Manuals

Manuals
Power Conservation: Dell Inspiron 7000

Power Conservation: Dell™ Inspiron™ 7000

How to Conserve Battery Power | Using Microsoft Windows 98 to Conserve Battery Power | Experimenting with Power Conservation | Checking the Battery Status | Standby Mode | Turn Off Monitor | Turn Off Hard-Disk Drive | Save-to-Disk Suspend Mode | Save-to-Disk Suspend File

How to Conserve Battery Power

You automatically conserve battery power each time you attach an AC power source to the computer. When the AC adapter is attached, the battery is being charged while the computer uses AC power. The life expectancy of your battery is determined largely by the number of charges it receives, so use an AC power source to run the computer if one is available.

Use the Microsoft Windows 98 Power Management Properties window to adjust the way the computer uses battery power. Options in the window slow or stop some internal devices when the computer is idle.

Take advantage of the computer's power management modes when you leave the computer unattended for long periods of time. Standby, Turn Off Monitor, and Turn Off Hard Drive allow you to maximize power conservation when your work is interrupted.

When the computer is using battery power, remove PC Cards that you are not using.

Experiment with power conservation features to achieve the optimum power conservation for your work environment.

NOTE: You might have to trade some of the computer's performance for increased battery operating time. For example, if you activate the Turn Off Hard Drive mode, you may experience a delay the next time the computer tries to access the drive.

Using Microsoft® Windows® 98 to Conserve Battery Power

Complete the following steps in Windows 98 to access the Power Management Properties window and set the power management features:

  1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click the Power Management Properties icon.
    The Power Management Properties window contains the following tabs:
  • Power Scheme allows you to select one of 3 power mode settings.
  • Alarms allows you to set the Low battery and Critical battery alarms to alert you when the system battery falls below a certain percentage. When you received your computer, the Low battery and Critical battery alarms check boxes were not checked. Dell recommends that you do not select these options.
  • Power Meter allows you to view the percentage of battery life remaining when your system is operating on battery power. If your system is operating on AC power, the system displays a message.
  • Advanced allows you to display the Power Meter on the Windows 98 taskbar and to display a password prompt when the computer resumes from Standby mode.
  1. Select the appropriate settings for the power management features you want.

Experimenting with Power Conservation

In general, the lower the value you set for each time-out option, the longer your battery's charge lasts. On the other hand, setting high time-out values tends to optimize the computer's performance. For best results, experiment as follows:

  • Use the computer with all the options set to their defaults.
  • Use the computer with all the time-out options disabled or set to Off.
  • Use the computer with all the time-out options set to their minimum values.

Evaluate the way that the different time-out settings affect how long you can operate the computer on battery power versus the relative efficiency of how your software performs.

Checking the Battery Status

The battery LED on the front of the computer indicates the battery's current operating status. The LED has 5 states:

  • Off when the computer is operating on battery power.
  • Flashing green, which indicates that the battery is charging.
  • Solid green, which indicates that the battery is fully charged.
  • Solid amber, which indicates that the power is low; you should save your work and attach AC power.
  • Fast blinking amber, which indicates that the battery power is critically low. Save your work and attach AC power immediately.

Standby Mode

Standby turns off the display, stops the hard-disk drive, and turns off other internal devices so that the computer uses less battery power. When the computer resumes operation from Standby mode, the desktop is restored exactly as it was before entering Standby mode.

NOTICE: Windows 98 saves data to RAM, not to your hard-disk drive, before entering Standby mode. If the computer enters Standby mode while running on battery power, data loss from RAM can occur if the battery discharges completely.

You can activate Standby mode by pressing <Fn><Esc> or by selecting Standby in the Shutdown window. To resume operation from Standby mode, press the power button.

Turn Off Monitor

The Turn Off Monitor option turns off the display so that the computer uses less battery power. You can press any key or the touch pad to turn on the display. The desktop is restored exactly as it appeared before the display was turned off.

Turn Off Hard-Disk Drive

The Turn Off Hard-Disk Drive option turns off the hard-disk drive so that the computer uses less battery power. You can press any key or the touch pad to turn on the hard-disk drive. The desktop is restored exactly as it appeared before the hard-disk was turned off.

Save-to-Disk Suspend Mode

Save-to-disk suspend mode copies all system data to a reserved area on the hard-disk drive and then turns off all power to the computer. When you resume normal operation, the same programs will be running and the same files will be open that were open before you activated this mode.

NOTES: Save-to-disk suspend mode helps preserve system data by quickly saving it on to the hard-disk drive if you are about to run out of battery power.

Place the computer in save-to-disk suspend mode if you do not intend to store the computer for longer than 40 days. Save-to-disk suspend mode preserves the configuration information stored in NVRAM. The reserve battery maintains this information, but may run out of energy after 40 days.

To activate save-to-disk suspend mode immediately, press <Fn> <A> (or <Fn> <Q> on the French keyboard).

To resume using the computer after activating save-to-disk suspend mode, press the power button. It may take a few seconds for the computer to return to its previous state.

Some PC Cards may not operate correctly after exiting from save-to-disk suspend mode. If you encounter problems with a card, remove and replace it.

NOTE: Save-to-disk suspend mode requires a special file on your hard-disk drive that sets aside enough disk space to store the contents of the computer's memory. Dell creates an appropriately sized save-to-disk suspend file before shipping the computer to you. If you remove the file or add memory to the computer, or if your hard-disk drive becomes corrupted, you must recreate the file before you can again use save-to-disk suspend mode.

Save-to-Disk Suspend File

The save-to-disk suspend file on your hard-disk drive cannot be accessed by the operating system or application programs. When save-to-disk suspend mode is activated, all system data is stored in this file.

Use the following instructions to create a save-to-disk suspend file if you installed a new hard-disk drive, if you removed the file, or if you are rebuilding a corrupted hard-disk drive. If possible, print these instructions before you begin this procedure.

NOTE: If you installed memory to increase system memory, delete the save-to-disk suspend file and then complete this procedure. To delete the save-to-disk suspend file, type the following at the MS-DOS prompt and press <Enter>:

phdisk /delete /file
  1. Save and exit any application programs and files that you have open and shut down the computer.
  2. Insert the Microsoft Boot Disk Windows 98 Series diskette into the diskette drive.
  3. When the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears, use the down-arrow key to select Start computer with CD-ROM support and press <Enter>.
  4. When A:\> appears on the screen, insert the Dell Inspiron 7000 System Software CD into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
    Your MS-DOS prompt changes from an A:\ to a D:\, assuming that D is the drive letter of your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
  5. Type cd\utilities and press <Enter>.
  6. Type phdisk /create /file and press <Enter>.
NOTE: Make sure that there is a space between phdisk /create and /file.

The utility calculates the size of the file, in kilobytes, based on the amount of system memory in your computer, plus 2 MB to handle video memory and additional system requirements.

  1. Follow the instructions on your screen to create the save-to-disk suspend file.
    To check the size of the save-to-disk suspend file, type phdisk /info at an MS-DOS prompt and press <Enter>.
    If you need to delete the save-to-disk suspend file, type     phdisk /delete /file at an MS-DOS prompt and press <Enter>.

 

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